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16 Dec 2004 : Column 1306W—continued

Telephone Costs

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated cost to his Department of unauthorised personal calls made by members of staff to (a) domestic numbers and (b) international numbers was in the last year for which figures are available. [202186]

Maria Eagle: This information is not available.

Pensioners (Perth)

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the total number of (a) pensioners and (b) pensioner households in Perth constituency. [205446]

Malcolm Wicks: In winter 2003–2004 there were 11,940 pensioner households in the parliamentary constituency of Perth, accounting for 16,390 pensioners.

Notes:

1. Pensioners are defined as those aged 60 or over.

2. Figures are rounded to the nearest five.

3. Figures are as at September 2003.

4. Any residence found to have 4 or more occupants aged 60 and over is not included in the household figures as it is assumed to be RCNH (Residential Care/Nursing Home).

5. Parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.

Pensions

Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire of 9 December 2004, Official Report, column 664W, on pensions, what the proportions are in each (a) region and (b) local authority area in Scotland. [205528]

Malcolm Wicks: The information requested is in the table:

	Men		Women
	Population in each local authority or Region	Percentage of relevant population in each local authority or Region	Population in each local authority or Region	Percentage of relevant population in each local authority or Region
Aberdeen City	11,500	87.3	11,900	49.3
Aberdeenshire	14,400	97.9	11,800	47.0
Angus	7,700	91.6	6,800	46.3
Argyll and Bute	5,800	78.6	6,400	49.1
The Scottish Boarders	7,900	89.6	7,700	50.3
Clackmannanshire	2,700	89.3	2,400	43.9
West Dumbartonshire	5,200	91.7	6,300	54.8
Dumfries and Galloway	10,900	85.5	10,300	47.3
Dundee City	8,800	84.9	10,400	53.9
East Ayrshire	7,300	89.9	8,200	54.8
East Dumbartonshire	6,600	88.2	5,800	42.9
East Lothian	6,500	97.0	5,800	48.5
East Renfrewshire	5,700	96.8	5,700	50.9
City of Edinburgh	23,700	86.5	25,300	48.9
Falkirk	9,400	98.7	8,400	47.9
Fife	22,500	94.6	20,700	47.2
Glasgow City	28,400	84.8	37,300	54.6
Highland	14,500	94.7	12,400	45.7
Iverclyde	5,100	92.7	6,200	56.5
Midlothian	4,800	92.5	4,500	48.1
Moray	6,500	100.0	5,000	46.1
North Ayrshire	8,200	88.0	8,400	47.9
North Lanarkshire	16,600	89.7	18,100	50.6
Orkney Islands	1,500	100.0	1,400	55.9
Perth and Kinross	10,600	97.1	8,700	45.6
Renfrewshire	10,400	94.1	10,700	51.6
Shetland Isles	1,200	92.2	1,000	41.1
South Ayrshire	7,700	84.9	8,600	52.7
South Lanarkshire	18,800	97.9	17,800	45.8
Stirling	5,600	99.1	4,900	46.4
West Lothian	7,900	96.2	6,700	44.2
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	1,300	58.5	1,600	40.6
Scotland	305,500	91.0	307,100	49.4

Notes:
1. Figures are taken from a 5 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a high degree of sampling variation.
2. Data is rounded to the nearest 100. Totals may not sum due to rounding.
3. Local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant Office for National Statistics postcode directory.
4. Population figures are taken from mid-2003. Percentages shown as 100 may actually have been calculated as slightly higher than 100 i.e. the benefit caseload is apparently at least as high, if not higher, than the corresponding population figure.
5. The relevant population refers to all males aged 65 and above and females aged 60 and above living in the specified areas.
6. A full basic State Pension (£77.45 in 2003–04) is paid to those who fully satisfy the contribution conditions either in their own right or where applicable, on the basis of their late or former spouse's contributions.
Sources:
1. IAD Information Centre, 5 per cent, sample as at 31 March 2004.
2. The Population data sources are the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the General Register Office, Scotland (GROS).





 
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Video Conferencing

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many video conferencing units are installed in (a) the Department and (b) each agency of the Department; what percentage of offices have these
 
16 Dec 2004 : Column 1308W
 
facilities in each case; and what plans there are to increase the number. [202189]

Maria Eagle: There are currently 213 video conference (VC) units installed across the Department. A breakdown by building and agency is in the following table.

Business/agency	Number of buildings	Number of VC units installed	Number of buildings with VC unit installed	Percentage of buildings with facilities
Disability and carers service	15	17	9	60
Debt management	9	0	0	0
The appeals services	33	15	12	36
CSA	84	7	6	7
Jobcentre plus	1,336	33	23	2
The pensions service	102	61	41	40
Corporate and shared services	109	80	37	34
Total	1,688	213	128	8

Notes:
1. Some buildings are occupied by more than one business unit so may have been counted more than once.
2. There are plans for a further 14 VC units in Jobcentre Plus, and other parts of the Department are considering the wider use of videoconferencing

Winter Fuel Payment

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the number of eligible people who have not received backdated winter fuel payments for the first three years of the scheme, broken down by region. [204746]

Malcolm Wicks: It is not possible to estimate with confidence how many people were eligible for backdated payments for the first three years of the scheme. Our working assumption was that about 1.9 million people could have been eligible of whom about 1.2 million have now been paid. There is no cut off date for these retrospective payments.

HEALTH

Asthma

Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what services are available from the national health service for patients with asthma and allied disorders; [203816]

(2) how many people suffer from asthma and allied disorders; [203817]

(3) how many people were treated by the national health service for asthma and allied disorders in the last year for which figures are available; [203818]
 
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(4) how much money was spent by his Department on people with asthma and allied disorders in the last year for which figures are available; and what proportion this was of his Department's budget; [203819]

(5) what guidance is issued by his Department to (a) general practices and (b) hospitals about treating patients with asthma and allied disorders. [203820]

(6) what funding has been provided for research by his Department in the last seven years on (a) the causes of asthma and allied disorders and (b) tackling these conditions. [203821]

Dr. Ladyman: Most people with asthma receive an excellent service from their general practitioner, including advice on self-management and, where necessary, appropriate medicines. The GP may also refer patients to hospital for specialist investigation and treatment.

Asthma is the most chronic disease in the United Kingdom. Accurate data for numbers affected are difficult to obtain. From the Office of National Statistics General Practice Database 1996 it was estimated that 6.7 per cent. of men and 6.9 per cent. of women in England and Wales were treated for asthma, about 3.5 million people.

In 2003–04, the last year for which data are available, there were about 13,431,000 first outpatient appointments, 5,448,000 elective hospital admissions and 15,313,000 new accident and emergency attendances at national health service hospitals. In 2002, the last year for which data are available, there were about 241 million appointments with GPs. In addition, patients received advice and, in some cases, treatment in NHS walk-in centres, through NHS Direct and community pharmacies. It is not possible to derive from the estimates how many individuals were involved, or to estimate what proportion of all contacts with the NHS included advice and treatment for a specific condition, or to estimate what proportion of the total NHS budget is involved.

Under the new primary medical care contracting arrangements a unique step has been taken in using indicators and information management across specific chronic disease areas, including asthma, to deliver improved outcomes for patients.

New primary medical care contracting arrangements provide primary care trusts with enormous potential to improve the quality and access to a wider range of services for patients. It centres on a comprehensive quality and outcomes framework. This is like a national service framework, covering the whole of primary care, with substantial financial incentives attached, and constitutes the single biggest investment in quality care in the NHS. Lives will be saved through effective chronic disease management of specific conditions, like heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma.

The main agency through which the Government supports medical and clinical research is the Medical Research Council (MRC). The MRC is an independent body funded by the Department of Trade and Industry via the Office of Science and Technology. The MRC
 
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spent some £12.6 million on asthma research in the four years from 1999–2000 to 2002–03. Information for the years 1997–98 and 1998–99 is not available.

The Department funds research to support policy and to provide the evidence needed to underpin quality improvement and service development in the NHS. In the six years from 1997–98 to 2003–04, the Department's national research programmes spent £9 million on projects related to asthma.

Over 75 per cent., of the Department's total expenditure on health research is devolved to and managed by NHS organisations. From this funding, the NHS reported spending in support of respiratory diseases as follows:

	£ million
2002–03	23.5
2003–04	29.1

This information was not collected centrally prior to 2002.

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